Donald Trump advises Coast Guard on how to keep equipment reserves

President Donald Trump says he tries to make sure that the military equipment the U.S. sells abroad is not quite as good as what the country keeps at home.

Trump tells members of a Coast Guard station in Florida, “I always say, make ours a little bit better. … Keep about 10 percent in the bag.” That apparently extends to material sold to allies. Trump says, “You never know about an ally. An ally can turn.”

“You never know about an ally. An ally can turn.”

Trump told several dozen men and women at the Riviera Beach station that, “Nobody has the equipment that we have.”

He added that the country’s “doing really well,” pointing to stock market records and his efforts to roll back regulations and beef up the military.

Trump is spending Thanksgiving at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida.